A Hand-Held Smart Wet Etch Monitor: Design, Theory, and Test

Author

Thakurdesai, Mandira S. ; Parker, Michael A.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Rutgers Univ., Piscataway, NJ

Volume

55

Issue

5

fYear

2006

Firstpage

1814

Lastpage

1822

Abstract

The theory, design, and tests are presented for a handheld unit that accurately monitors (and controls) the etch depth, rate, and surface roughness during wet etching. The unit features a noncontact optical probe using a low-power pulsed laser that circumvents light-induced etching. The etch monitor incorporates a 16-bit analog-to-digital converter with sample and hold, parallel "single chip" processors, liquid crystal display and keypad, Personal Computer Memory Card International Association-based data storage, battery charger, an RS-232 COM port, and a parallel programming port. Tests performed on GaAs heterostructure etched in the phosphoric acid system indicate etch depth control better than 250 Aring. The results include composition profiles and etch rates for reaction and diffusion rate limited etches

Keywords

computerised monitoring; display instrumentation; etching; notebook computers; etch depth; etch rate; hand-held smart wet etch monitor; laser heterostructure; noncontact optical probe; semiconductor fabrication; surface roughness; wet etching; Analog-digital conversion; Computerized monitoring; Laser theory; Liquid crystal displays; Optical pulses; Probes; Rough surfaces; Surface roughness; Testing; Wet etching; Etch depth; etch rate; handheld; instrumentation; laser heterostructure; monitor; semiconductor fabrication; surface roughness; wet etching;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Instrumentation and Measurement, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9456

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TIM.2006.880268

Filename

1703934